It’s been about 70 years since Tejanos began coming from Texas to Aurora.
And it took that long for the Tejano flag to fly in the city.
It happened Friday when city officials raised the flag in One Aurora Plaza, an occurrence that has become commonplace during the administration of Mayor Richard Irvin for Aurora’s many diverse ethnic communities.
The week leading up to Friday’s flag-raising and the 21st annual Tejano Festival Saturday in the city was declared Illinois Tejano Week in Aurora.
In raising the flag, Clayton Muhammad, Aurora’s chief communications and equity officer and senior advisor to the mayor, said the event matches “the One Aurora philosophy of Richard Irvin – that you belong here.”
Tejanos are people of Mexican descent who emigrated from Mexico to the Grand Valley in Texas, then migrated elsewhere.
For Aurora, the migration began in the early 1950s, and the community began to grow, city officials said. In 1959, five Tejano men working at the old Austin-Western plant in Aurora organized the Latin American Club, and in 1966, the club bought a building near the Austin-Western plant, and near the Jack Hill Bridge over the railroad tracks on North Farnsworth Avenue, and the club has flourished since.
Friday’s event recognized the men who founded the club with a Spirit and Excellence Award given in honor of the club, collected by the family of one of the organizers.
An award also was given to the Illinois Tejano Organization, organized in 1998 as the Northern Illinois Tejano Society, which for 21 years has organized fund-raising for scholarships for Tejano youth.
The organization focuses on preserving and promoting pride in Tejano music and Hispanic culture, supports education of Hispanic students and their schools, and supports Hispanic community involvement and organizational leadership.
One of the leaders of the group – and a longtime organizer of Tejano events, Mercy Galicia – also received a Spirit and Excellence Award. In giving her the award, Irvin said her energy and effort are “in keeping with the Tejano culture and spirit.”
